On 13 September 2022, Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman from the Kurdistan province of Iran, arrived with her mother in Tehran to visit relatives there. On leaving the train station, Mahsa was arrested by the Gasht-e Ershad, the so-called Morality Police for wearing “improper clothing” and told that she was to be taken to a detention centre for what was described as a corrective class on mandatory public attire. Mahsa and her mother had only just arrived in Tehran and were unaware of the changes in the law, so understandably, they protested.
Officers responded to these protests with force and it has been noted that “other women detained by the Gasht-e Ershad that day reported that Jina Mahsa Amini was severely beaten in the patrol van for resisting the arrest.” Later that evening, Mahsa collapsed at the detention centre, before slipping into a coma and dying three days later on 16 September 2022.
Mahsa’s death sparked a wave of anti-regime protests across Iran and the birth of the Women, Life, Freedom movement. It was hoped that her death would not be in vain and that the pressure applied on the regime might see women’s rights in Iran improve. Sadly, that has not been the case. And this was shown only too clearly on Human Rights Day, 10 December.
New laws in Iran
On that day, Amnesty International reported that the “Law on Protecting the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chastity and Hijab” would come into force on 13 December 2024.
Amnesty noted that: “Iranian authorities have adopted a new draconian law that further erases the human rights of women and girls, imposing the death penalty, flogging, prison terms and other severe penalties to crush ongoing resistance to compulsory veiling, Amnesty International said today.”
Arrested for not wearing a hijab – on YouTube
Then on 15 December it was reported that the lawyer of Parastoo Ahmady had said that the Iranian authorities had arrested the 27-year-old female singer for holding a virtual concert on YouTube. It was said that “Ahmady, who was performing in Sari City, the capital of Mazandaran province, was detained on Saturday. The arrest follows a case filed by the judiciary on Thursday concerning her performance, which featured her singing in a sleeveless black dress without a hijab, alongside four male musicians.”
It was further reported that the concert, posted on YouTube the day before, had garnered over 1.6 million views and that, “in the video, Ahmady introduced herself as “a girl who wants to sing for the people I love” and expressed her passion for performing for her country.” It was later reported that the Iranian regime had ‘bowed to pressure’ and released Parastoo.
Breaking news
Then on 17 December it was reported in the Independent that an official in Iran had said that Iran had paused the process of implementing the new, stricter law on women’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab
It was further reported that, “the controversial law, which was approved by the parliament in September 2023, will not be sent to the government as planned this week, according to one of the country’s vice presidents. The development effectively means that Iran has halted enacting the legislation.”
Shahram Dabiri, the vice president in charge of parliamentary affairs was quoted as saying that, “according to the discussions held, it was decided that this law will not be referred to the government by the parliament for now”.
An Iranian viewpoint
Newcastle-based Iranian human rights campaigner Parisa Panahi had this to say about the new law and the arrest of Parastoo:
“The revolution is continuing under the skin of Iran. Nothing will ever go back to normal and the whole world has now been exposed to the real image of Iran. The image of people who have been oppressed by their own government for years.
“Everyone is doing their own share of civil protest to keep the spark going. The new generation has proved that they will not sit back and watch to be oppressed just how their generations before them were.
“Parastoo sang her first song when the uprising started, in protest to what was happening in Iran. She sang an old famous Iranian song that says: ‘Tulips have bloomed from the blood of the country’s youth.’
“She continued posting videos to show her anger against the regime. Her path will be continued by so many brave young Iranians.”
Human dignity
The struggle for human rights in Iran goes on. We can only hope that the people of Iran will be able to bloom, along with the flowers, sooner, rather than later, when the spring of human dignity thaws the icy winter of a regime, which has been so cruel for so long.
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